Monday, February 9, 2015

First game of Bolt Action battle report!

o/

FINALLY! Two years of badgering Rob and Screech to pick/build their armies, netted a result: a game with Bob. Yes at this point, I've given up on the other two. Anyways, I thanked Bob up and down as this was the first time I've ever been able to play a game of any kind with my beloved Quar (I first started buying them back in 2011!).

Anyways, here was the set up: 500 points, Germans (Early war, and no vehicles or pak38 as his order from the UK had yet to arrived), vs. my Quar (counts as British-Dad's Army). Long table edges with no deployment as all units arrived from reserve. The Mission was 'Top Secret' (basically the Relic from 40k).

My platoon, awaiting their baptism of fire.

The game's objective: a wayward Quar cook who apparently doesn't respond to "HEY! Get your ass over here private!"

The field of battle.

Bob's German platoon.

First up, my artillery officer arrives on the table.

Actually, everyone showed up on the first try, though the Commandos wouldn't arrive till turn 3 do to outflanking deployment.

Bob's army deploys quickly as well...aside from his officer and an MMG team.

First blood! A Quar falls to enemy fire...

The Quar Homeguard makes it an eye for an eye!

Then came turn three...Turns one and two was mainly advancing, and a few potshots. Turn three started with my artillery strike landing, and spreading 7 pin markers between these two units. I was feeling pretty good about that, but then...

STUKA!!! Damned thing pinned almost the whole blob of my line! Only my tank and a few outlying units were spared! A good chunk of the Painted Homeguard died as well! These two strikes totally changed the dynamic of the game!

My Commandos outflank, SMGs at the ready...

...and killing a few Germans plus adding another crucial pin marker!

Who's turn to go is determined by picking dice out of a bag. Its quite random and impossible to know who's dice are who's, or at least it is until you realize that they come in different styles...WHAT THE FUCK WARLORD?!?!?!

Bob's abysmal rolling grants him a roll on the FUBAR chart, causing his squad to take flight. Meanwhile his air support officer and assistants try to take down the Commandos...

My Quar are continue to be pinned more or less everywhere! Oh and that D4, that's Bob's medium mortar point of impact marker. By this point, it needed a 3+ to hit, he rolled a 1.

My light mortar team is still out of range, and advancing thru some trees that look as though they've already been on the wrong end of some artillery.

The Commandos wipe out the Air officer and friends in one volley! At this point these guys were declared the MVPs for wiping out a flank on their own!

My Artillery officer, lacking anything useful to do after the successful artillery strike moves forward in hopes of sniping at some Germans with his rifle.

Most of the Quar line is on the move again (barring of course, the painted squad of Homeguard). My tank kept the enemy's heads down with its MMG (all game), and the light mortar team is still outta range...

With a few parting shots, the Commandos see the last of my right flank's Germans off of the table, huzzah!

As is the case in 40k's Relic scenario, anyone who reaches the objective, gets the living shit shot out of them, which was also the case here...

Bob's Mortar finally connects on turn 6, and the casualties are irrelevant, as the pin markers almost equal the Homeguard's LD value and they flee the field!

Actually, turn 6 was the turn of the Mortar as mine connected as well. However after Bob's successful strike, my light mortar was woefully unimpressive in the damage department...

Meanwhile, on another table....yeah, I...uh, just took a photo and walked away. No idea what who was proxying what for what.

The Boys AT rifle finally opens fire!

No casualties were inflicted, but they added a pin marker to Bob's squad after they blew yet another hole in their ruined hide out.

Ah yes, Bob's die rolling was...in a word: abysmal. Adding pin markers to his squads was kinda irrelevant given his average LD roll was a 10.

Not contnet with taking the flank, the Commandos take a hill as well.

Hitler's Buzzsaw kills a Commando and Bob claims 'moral victory'.

My Lt. and his cronies secure the cook and I win! Wait wha? Oh, this isn't actually the Relic, meaning I had to get the objective off of the table to win, making this a draw. Frustrated, my Lt. starts to interrogate the wayward cook at gunpoint!

Well that was fun! So after my first game, here are my thoughts on it:

• It had always struck me as odd that arty and air strikes were only once per game. However after seeing how much damage they did, it makes total sense now.

• The Commandos were definitely MVPs, however had Bob managed to roll worth a damn, 6 Anteaters with a 12" shooting range would have probably been easy kills. So I'll hold off on calling them OP just yet. Actually, they were the closest thing to being vaguely OP which was a really, really nice change from 40k.

• The Homeguard performed well. I mean, they're basically Imperial Guardsmen which I've feilded for decades. LD:8, Hit on a 4+, Die on a 3+, yup, guardsmen. Unfortunately they're dirt cheap (like Orks kinda cheap) which makes an army of them cost prohibitive to me. So I'm going to break the painted squad in half and will field 2 small squads of them (with the matching Lt., and friends) instead of a whole platoon. :-(

• The tank's scale was just fine for this game. 1/32nd is too big, an oddly Warlord's tanks are tiny as hell! So in comparison to 1/48th, I think it works just fine. Also Bob's lack of AT weaponry made it invulnerable which was pleasing.

• Light mortar's suck compared to medium mortars.

• The dice, really? I still find the inconsistent dice mind boggling...

Well, we'll see how a Home Guard force does up against an Airborne force here in a couple weeks. Looking over the pictures in the battle report, I think part of why you had so much of a blood bath is that the terrain seems very sparse compared to the battle reports I've been watching to get a feel for the game.

About Me

I got into 40k when I was 19, and my state of personal finances has been all but destroyed ever since. These days I play primarily X-Wing and Bolt Action, but still dabble in 40k, WHFB, CBT, as well as various other odds and ends. I am also weening myself off of a long term addiction to the EVE Online MMO. Basically I'm just your standard issue gaming geek.

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